Writing the Northwest – Michael N. McGregor

America’s Midnight in the Pacific Northwest

My new post on WritingtheNorthwest.com looks at the many Pacific Northwest connections in Adam Hochschild’s fascinating and sobering new book about America during and after World War I, AMERICAN MIDNIGHT.

Among the Northwest people you’ll read about are the feisty, progressive Portland doctor Marie Equi, the organizers of the 1919 Seattle General Strike, and the brave members of the International Workers of the World (Wobblies) labor union.

You’ll also read about less savory characters like the immigrant-hating Washington State congressman Albert Johnson and Seattle mayor Ole Hanson, who may have been the first politician to make a career out of being avowedly anti-Communist.

Check out the post here!

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New WNW Post Features NW Novelist & Screenwriter Jon Raymond

After a brief break over the holidays, WritingtheNorthwest.com is back, and I’m pleased to start the new year with a new feature, Three Questions and a Quote, and one of my favorite Northwest writers, Jon Raymond.

Raymond is the author of an award-winning story collection, an essay collection, and four novels, including Denial (2022), a finalist for this year’s Oregon Book Award in Fiction. He has also coauthored several films, including the HBO mini-series “Mildred Pierce” and the remarkable “First Cow.” Most of his work is set in the Northwest.

Three Questions and a Quote is a new, occasional feature focused on the thoughts and work of prominent Northwest writers.

You can access the entry on Raymond here, including his thoughts on Northwest writing and links to his writings and films (plus other goodies).

Celebrating Black Newspapers in the Pacific Northwest

There’s a new post up on my WritingtheNorthwest.com site. It looks at the history and vitality of Black newspapers in the Northwest and includes links to the actual pages of some of the oldest ones.

Although there were few African Americans in Seattle in the 1890s, that decade produced 7 new Black newspapers, and while there were almost no African Americans in Portland in 1896, an enterprising young man named Adolphus D. Griffin started a weekly called The New Age for the Black community there that year.

You can read more here.

Where or What Do We Mean When We Say “the Pacific Northwest”–New Post On WNW Site

If you haven’t had a chance yet to check out my new website, WritingtheNorthwest.com, you might find the latest post interesting. It attempts to answer the question of where and what exactly is the “Pacific Northwest.”

The post offers a number of interesting links, including one to the area covered by the culture of the Coast Indian tribes and one to details about the 9.2 earthquake centered in SW Alaska in 1964 that set Seattle’s Space Needle swaying.

Click here to check out the post.

My New Website, Dedicated to Writing about the Pacific Northwest–Check It Out!

I just launched a new website: WritingtheNorthwest.com. The first post is about a conference held 75 years ago at which writers first discussed what the Pacific NW is and how it should be written about. I’m hoping the new site becomes a forum for discussing literary, historical and contemporary writing about the NW. Check it out!